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Monday, September 23, 2013

Prepping for NaNoWriMo

Fall is off to a busy start!

I’m getting ready for November,
which is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), http://nanowrimo.org/.
I signed up for NaNoWriMo Camp this
past July. I didn’t finish but I was able to develop some new ideas for my novel.
Several months ago, I purchased Scrivener, a software program for writers. I worked
with it during the camp, but wanted to learn more about the program. Currently,
I’m taking a class, taught by Gwen Hernandez, author of Scrivener for Dummies. The book was published in 2012. The class is
offered a few times a year. It’s giving me a better understanding of all the
things Scrivener can do.You can learn more about the class and the book at
Gwen’s website, http://gwenhernandez.com.

Last December, I decided I was
going to read one book each week of 2013. For the most part, I have been doing
this. I have only missed a few weeks. Two of these books (I’ve read one and am
reading the second) concern novel writing. No Plot?
No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days was
written by Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo. Ready,
Set, Novel!: A Workbook, by Lindsey Grant, Tavia stewart-Streit, and Chris Baty, will help
you plan and plot your novel. I recommend both of these books.

Next month is the annual free online writing conference, The
Muse. The conference dates are Oct 7 – 13 and registration ends October 1. There
are many workshops, taught by authors, agents and others in the industry. I
highly recommend “attending” this event. It’s great for any writer, no matter
what the genre. http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com/.

An FYI -- A new website for The Muse went live earlier this
month. If you registered prior to the new website going up, I suggest logging
in to make sure your account was transferred to the new database. Glitches sometimes happen. I discovered that
my account, which I created a few years ago, and my conference registration,
had disappeared.You must have an
account and register for the conference before the deadline, in order to
attend. If you don't register, you won't get access to the conference. My
advice is to double check your account and registration if you originally
created that account and/or registered for the conference on the old site.

I’m looking
forward to The Muse and NaNoWriMo and I hope to see you there!

Debbie A. Byrne has a B.S. in Mass Communication with a
minor in History. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators (SCBWI) and is working on her first children’s book.

I created a new account too and then re-registered for the conference. I bet this has affected many people, but some probably won't know until it's the first day of the conference and they won't be able to get in.

The Muse conference is very helpful and so much fun. I will be doing some behind the scenes stuff during the conference too, possibly moderating. Hope to see you all there. And I agree with Magdalena, a follow up on Scrivener would be awesome too.

I was involved in this Muse conference from the very beginning but the last couple years haven't worked out. I still believe that onsite conferences are best, but THIS is one of the best for those who can't afford to go--or can't find the time. I wish everyone the best. The more we know about the publishing industry--from writing to formatting--the better chance we have for success. And for avoiding pitfalls. I'll still do what I can to promote it it.

As for NaNA, no way. I gave the concept a try this summer for a new novel. I do believe a support group would help. And yes! Advance preparation!

Best,Carolyn Howard-JohnsonLoving helping writers get read with my HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers including the multi award-winning second edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo

Thanks for you posts! Yes, I will try to write a follow up on Scrivener (and NaNoWriMo). I'm enjoying the class and learning alot. All kinds of interesting things! I had planned on also writing a followup about July NaNoWriMo Camp, but I didn't do much with it. I found that trying to do that much writing in the summer, when I really didn't want to be on the computer, did not work for me. It felt too confining.